This was a rec league, it wasn’t school sponsored. But the parent of one of the players was a school board member who has just resigned as a result.
I have a facebook friend who has a child at that school and one who has gruaduated from there. Through my friend I have learned that earlier in the school year they had issues with white supremacy at the school via Instagram/Twitter and at least one student was expelled and another had to issue a public apology. There’s also currently a lawsuit from incidences a few years ago alleging bullying and racism were covered up by the administration. (https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2017/08/31/cheerleading-lawsuits-bullying-racism-lost-jobs-and-cover-up/532492001/)
This isn’t an isolated incident. This wasn’t “just a joke.”
Well to be perfectly honest @twoinanddone yes I have – and it was me.
When my own son in middle school sat with his hockey team in an all school assembly and threw paper clips, pencils and other items at band members who were performing on stage I made no excuses for his behavior. Nor did I take the opportunity to highlight his virtues when a band parent confronted me about it. I told them it wasn’t his finest hour and there would be consequences for his awful behavior. And there was – he was grounded for quite some time.
I do believe given the age of the boys (17-18 ) with the most reprehensible shirts, they could have been keeping the messages from parents ( doing their own laundry) and parents might not have been at the recreational league games. But I’d be mortified as a parent if it was my kid. Not sure though that a public school can punish kids for this out of school speech, no matter how reprehensible unless it amount to criminal harassment ( this did not) The law is somewhat unclear but generally a School cant do so. See the Beverly Hills Unified School District case.
His (and your) actions have determined that is a lie.
Racists, sexist, homophobes, etc are not good. They are not kind. Kind acts don’t make you kind. Kind people don’t mock. They don’t hate based on an adjective. They try to make the world kind and inclusive.
Your son is neither good nor kind. There is redemption but currently he is neither.
And no “it was a mistake” excuses. By high school, people know better. A mistake is forgetting your homework, not writing racist epithets proudly on your back.
"McKiernan apologized and said no one on the team meant to hurt anyone.
[/quote]
That could not possibly be true. How could anyone think that seeing words like “Coon” and “Knee Grow” where names normally are displayed could not be hurtful? Either every single one of them are completely clueless or they are pathological liars.
H & M also stated that they meant no offense by their sweatshirt offering:
^^
Is that H & M ad for real??? That’s just insane that someone could come up with something like that and it would get approved by anyone in the corporate world who has half a brain.
WWJD? Clearly he’d opt for Hue’s Yur Daddy, but I’m fairly sure his father would see how much trouble would arise and put a stop to it. Not everyone is parenting on remote control.
Sorry, I held off for a while but impulse control is my weakness. As dumb as this whole thing was, it gets far darker in the context of the other racist events that have been happening at the school over the past year or so. There is a lot of work to be done in that community, but in a way that makes it even crazier that no one thought to report it. When you have an active and recent history of white supremacy in your school I would have guessed that would lead to an increased sensitivity to things that would roil the waters. Surprised yet again, I guess.
“I could have done more. I could have said more,” McKiernan said. “So to whatever degree I can help the healing, I will.”
They ALL could have said and done more. It could be “herd mentality”. Nothing happens until somebody speaks out. And it only takes one person to break the dam.
Bet a lot of people are wishing they’d spoken up earlier and wondering now why they didn’t do so.
Kerry McKiernan the school board member who just resigned and whose son was on the team said that “no one on the team mean to hurt anyone.”
Nope, because they do not consider the feelings of those they ridicule to be worthy of consideration. “Anyone” refers to people they value as fellow human beings, not those they view as lesser than. I am stunned that three and a half games went by with no one standing up for what is right. We have a long way to go as a society, IMHO.
http://www.city-data.com/city/Kings-Mills-Ohio.html indicates that the Kings Mills herd is higher income than average (median $80,207) and more educated than average (42% of population age 25+ has a bachelor’s degree), but ethnically homogeneous (93.9% white).
^^^She’s not from the US, but you would still think there would be a tiny bit of understanding for where the offense comes from. Wow. No one was criticizing the child, so I’m surprised at her vitriol.
@ucbalumnus --which makes it that much more likely that “herd mentality” took over to some extent.
(No–they don’t get a pass)…
My question: Did ANYBODY after the fact defend the original decision to print the shirts?
Or give an excuse no matter how lame? I know some principles tried in a lame way to apologize.
But are there any parents, kids-- ANYBODY standing behind that decision?
In my view, this incident is yet another in keeping with a growing attitude within too many individuals that it’s okay to stop pretending to be non-racist. I can’t even count the number of times I’ve heard or read statements from people who’ve expressed open resentment towards racial and ethnic minorities. At the same time, intolerance towards Non-Christian faiths, social justice movements relating to gender equality, sexual orientation and gender identity are also on the rise. They feel validated as of the Fall of 2016 to “tell it like it is”. They see America as theirs to “take back” from a rising hoard of amorphous black and brown peoples, people whom they see as having come to take their jobs, rape their women, and carry out terrorist acts. And why not? They feel emboldened by he whom they chose to lead us, as well as those who refuse to challenge him as long as they think he can aid them in realizing certain net political gains. Thus prevails certain insidious aspects of the current zeitgeist. But there are more of us who believe in the ideals set forth in our founding documents than there are of those motivated by hate and fear mongering. Of this, I am certain.